Time recording clock



Sept. 8, 1931. A. J. KOEPSELL TIME RECORDI-NG CLOCK Filed June 2, 1928 2 sheets sneet 1 a f o a Sept. 8, 1931. J, KOEPSELL 1,822,225

TIME RECORDING CLOCK Filed June 2, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 5 there is a record sheet divided Patented Sept. 8, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE AUGUST J; KOEPSELL, OF MAYVILLE, XVISCONSEN, A SSIGNOR F TWENTY-FIVE PER CENT TO WALTER A. MOEB-ICKE, 0F LEAYVILLB, WISCONSIN TIME RECORDING CLOCK Application filed June 2,

This invention relates to time recording clocks such as are used by workmen or employs, and an object of the invention is to provide a clock of this character in which into hour spaces or fractions thereof and a rotatably carried stamping device having means whereby numerals or other indicia indicating employs may be stamped upon the record sheet.

A further object is to provide a construction of this character in which there is a dial and a minute hand rotatable over the dial, a stationary plate disposed beyond the minute hand but smaller than the dial and which supports a rotatable record sheet, and a fixed plate which carries means for stamping the employs indications upon the record sheet, there being an hour hand moving with the record sheet so that thus the dial may have all the markings of the ordinary clock dial and the minute and hour hands will operate over the dial in the usual manner but there will be relative rotation between the marking devices or stamping devices and the record sheet.

A further object is to provide simple means whereby the record sheet may be caused to intermittently stand still so as to permit any of the types being pressed upon or stamping the record beneath while the record is stationary.

Other objects will appear more fully herein after.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a face view of a time recorder constructed in accordance with my invention;

Figure 2 is an elevation partly broken away and partly in section of the time recorder shown in Figure 1 on an enlarged scale; 1

Figure 3 is a of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is an elevation of the sleeve 23;

Figure 5 is a plan view of the stationary plate Figure 6 is a face view of the record sheet;

Figure 7 is a fragmentary detail section detail section on the line 33 through a portion of the record shifting gear wheel, the record supporting disk and the record;

Figure 8 is an under side plan view of'the outer door showing the inking pad or inking rihhon;

Figure 9 is a fragmentary detail section through the supporting disk, the outer door, and the record sheet and showing the details of the imprinting mechanism.

Referring to these drawings, 10 designates a clock case recessed upon its outer face 11 so as to provide an annular dial 12 and radial recesses or an annular recess 13 exterior to t e dial 12. Disposed within this case 10 is the frame 14; of an ordinary clock mechanism. which clock mechanism, however, is changed, as will be later stated, and extending through the frame from the rear end through to the front thereof is the shaft 15. This shaft is reduced above the point 16 and the shaft carries upon it the gear wheel 17 which may be driven by a clock train or clock work of any usual or suitable character, it being understood that this shaft makes a complete revolution in one day of twelve hours. any suitable spring actuated or weight actuated clock mechanism may be used for this purpose.

Surrounding the upper portion of the shaft 15, which is reduced in diameter, as at 18, is a tubular shaft 19 which constitutes the minute shaft, as it may be termed, of the mechanism. This shaft carries upon it the minute hand 20 which extends outover the dial 12 and coacts with the figures on this dial in the usual manner. This shaft 19 is driven from the clock train in any usual or suitable manner so that it will. make a complete revolution in one hour. This tubular shaft 19 terminates at the minute hand, and disposed immediately above the minute hand is a stationary annular plate 21 supported by radially extending arms 22 which extend to the portion 13 of the casing. This plate 21 is circular in form but of less diameter than the exterior diameter of the dial 12 so that it does not obscure the outer end of the minute hand nor the figures on the dial 12.

dxtending through the central aperture in the plate and surrounding the shaft 18 is a sleeve 23 carrying upon its under face a toothed wheel 24. This sleeve 23 is slotted at 25, the slot extending circumferentially, and a pin 26 extends through this slot 25, this pin being mounted upon the shaft 18. A record sheet 27 of paper. cardboard or like material and shown in Figure 6 is formed at its centerwith an opening whereby it may be slipped over the sleeve 23 and over the pin 26, this record sheet being provided with openings 28 at diametrically opposite points adapted to engage with upwardly extending pins or posts 24a projecting outward from the outer rim of the toothed wheel 24 so that thus the record sheet is positively rotated while it is supported operatively upon the stationary plate 21.

Disposed above the record sheet is the outer door 29 which is preferably made of metal and is provided with glass panes 29a through which the dial may be seen. This door may be made with an outer frame of metal or wood and the central portion of glass in the usual manner of clock case doors. The record sheet 27 is held upon the pins and rotated thereby and may be prevented from coming off of the sleeve 23 by means of a cotter pin 32. The record sheet may be radially di ided into any number of spaces as. for instance. into hour spaces. Mounted upon the outer door 29 on the under face thereof is an inkin'g cloth this cloth being disposed beneath the door 29 and the door carryinrr buttons 34 depressible against the force of a spring, these buttons carrying printing type. such as number type. there being a number for each workman so that when a button is depr ssed the type will force the inking cloth down against the face of the record and an impression will be made thereon.

The record sheet 27 rests upon the stationary plate and this stationary plate may he provided with a rubber or felt pad upon its upper face against which the sheet rests and which .will e asticall support the sheet against the button as the latter is depressed. It will be understood. of course... that the wor tmen or employee wi l be given diff r nt numbers or combinations of numbers and that thus the depression of the appropriate button 34 will indicate upon the record sheet the fact that the workman has unched the cloclr.

As illustrated. the: inking ribbon is mounted upon two shafts 36. each of these shafts having a gear wheel 37 meshing with, an intermediate gear wheel 38 having a crank so that when the crank is turned the inking ribbon may be rolled up on one shaft and unreeled from the other shaft. The inking ribbon may be adinsted in proper position against the face of the type by means of a U-shaped ribbon adjusting rod 40. this rod being disposed between the shafts or rollers 36 and holding the ribbon down and in place nearly against the face of the record.

The particular means whereby the tubular shaft 23 and, therefore, the time record sheet 2. is given an intermittent movement is as follows: The sleeve 23, as before remarked, is provided with a toothed wheel 24. This has a plurality of approximately V-shaped teeth in its circumference. Coacting with these teeth is a resilient arm 41 supported at 42 and held against outward movement by a stop 43, the extremity of this spring arm being formed with a V-shaped tooth 44.

A s before remarked, the sleeve 23 is slotted at 25 and a pin 26 extends from the shaft 18 through this slot. This pin is rotating in the direction of the arrow in Figure 3 and when it reaches the extremity of the slot 25 the pin will cause a common movement of the sleeve and gear wheel 24 with the shaft 18. This movement causes the tooth 44 to ride up upon the tooth 24a, but as soon as the tooth 44 has just passed the apex of the tooth 24a, the resilience of the arm 41 will cause the tooth 44 to move inward and thus will act to Wedge the wheel 24 rapidly in the same direction that the pin 26 is moving but at a greater speed so that the sleeve 23 will remain statimiary until the pin has again caught up or reached the extremity of the slot 25, when a gain the sleeve 23 will move a distance equal to half of one of the teeth 24a and then will again advance rapidly a distance of half a tooth under the action of the spring tooth 44 and then will again stop until the pin 26 has again reached the end of the slot 25.

Thus it will be seen that the sleeve 23 which carries the record sheet 27 will move intermittently and. then stop and then will again move and stop, and so on. distance apart of the teeth, the record sheet 2. may be caused to stop for any desired length of time. Thus a wheel with twelve teeth may have a dead stop of one hour and then move forward. a wheel with twenty-four teeth will have a dead stop of half an hour and then move forward, etc. By adjusting the number of teeth to the hour, any desired stoppage of the record sheet may be made.

It is during the stoppage of movement that the record is stamped. In many instances it may not be necessary or desirable to cause a stoppage of the record sheet in order to stamp the record sheet. and under those circumstances the record sheet will rotate continuously, making, one complete rotation in the course of a day, and inasmuch as this motion is very slow the stamp will not act to retard the record sheet to any material extent, if at all. This is true of almost any clock having less than twenty buttons. Where there are only a few buttons and where these are set in a radial row, there is no necessity of stopping the record sheet in its movement.

It is to be particularly noted that the hour By varying the izo shaft of the clock carries the usual hour hand 30, and coacting with the disk 12, and the disk formed by the toothed Wheel 2% and the record sheet engaged therewith. Inasmuch as the record sheet is light, there will be very little drag upon this hour hand shaft. Nevertheless I do not wish to be limited to rotating the record sheet and holding the stamping devices from rotation, as it is obvious that the parts might be reversed and the stamping devices might rotate and the record sheet be held from rotation.

The record sheets 27 may be readily put in place each day before Work starts and readily removed after work stops. The mechanism which I have described gives a very simple, combined clock and time recorder easily operated by the workmen and giving a perma nent record which may be readily removed from the clock itself for storage.

While I have illustrated a particular stamping arrangement whereby the workmen may stamp their numbers upon the record sheet, it is obvious that other mechanism of this character might be provided. I have not attempted toillustrate the clock train whereby the central shaft and the tubular shaft are respectively operated, as this will be obvious to those skilled in the art. Suflice it to reiterate that the central shaft will make one revolution through the entire day of twelve hours (or twenty-four hours if a. tWenty-four-hour clock and record sheet is to be used), while the minute hand makes its usual movement of complete revolution around a center every hour where a twelve-hour clock is being used. It will be seen that in this construction the minute hand moves as ordinarily over the dial, while the record sheet 27 beneath the inking type or stamping type will move in the same manner as an hour hand but intermittently.

I claim 1. A time recorder including a record sheet member having radial recording spaces and a member carrying printing stamps disposed above the record sheet member, means for rotating the record sheet member relative to the printing stamp carrying member and means for intermittently stopping the rotation of the record sheet at intervals including a sleeve mounted upon the first named shaft and with which the record sheet is detachably engaged, the sleeve having a wheel mounted thereon formed with V-shaped teeth, a circumferential slot in the sleeve, a pin mounted upon the shaft and extending into said slot, and a spring actuated member having a V-shaped tooth coacting with the teeth on the wheel and adapted when it passes the crest of the tooth to rotate the wheel, the sleeve and the record sheet quickly through a predetermined arc and then hold the wheel and sleeve stationary until the pin has reached the end of the slot.

9. A time recorder including a record sheet member having radial recording spaces and a member carrying printing stamps, the two members having a common axis, means for rotating said members relative to the other and intermittently stopping the movement of the rotating member comprising a shaft, a sleeve loosely mounted upon the shaft, the sleeve having a s ot and the. shaft having a pin entering said slot, the sleeve carrying said rotating member, and means for intermittently and automatically shifting said sleeve in the direction of movement of the shaft at a speed greater than that of the shaft, said means acting then to engage the shaft with said sleeve to cause a further movement of the sleeve with the shaft.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature.

AUGUST J. KOEPSELL. 

